Kingdom Hearts: New Journeys, New Worries
by Latias-Saphira
Summary: This is what happens when Riku and Sora get a little too bored and curious, and decide to look through the strange door that started it all. And for once, Kairi isn't with them, and she's got no idea what's happened...
1. Boredom and Curiosity

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I wish I did. Then I'd be cool (crazy equals cool in my books, though not really in this case) and probably somewhat rich. P And I'd probably own CoM. But anyways, I still own nothing.

--

Sora folded his hands in front of him on the windowsill in his bedroom as he looked out at their little island in the middle of the night. The water was calm and peaceful with soft moonlight shimmering off of its surface. The gentle light also settled on the palm trees and small tree houses that they had built there over the years, which really made it all quite a pretty sight.

Sora hated it.

Well, maybe that wasn't the right way to put it. The fifteen-year-old loved his home that was Destiny Islands. He just…didn't like living there anymore. Not the way he was living now. Donald and Goofy and the King had gone back to Disney Castle, and where had that left him, Riku, and Kairi? Stuck back where they were before, where it all began and seemed destined to end. He didn't like the peace and quiet. It was what Kairi wanted, but Sora could even tell that Riku was anxious to leave the Islands already.

It had only been two weeks and three days since Sora and Riku had found their way back somehow from the darkness. Two weeks and three days since the trio had said goodbye to Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey. Two weeks and three days since they had finished what had seemed like their last adventure…

There was dust on the windowsill in Sora's bedroom. It had been disturbed, and it seemed like two handprints had done so. And it seemed like they had supported the weight of a fifteen-year-old boy.

It was a lucky thing the palm tree right outside of Riku's window hadn't been blown down or anything like that. It was still standing, strong as ever. Good thing, too, because Riku's bedroom was on the second floor of his home, much like Sora's. And Sora got a shock when he swiftly – though not very gracefully – scrambled up the tree and saw Riku staring right at him, almost making him fall off.

"Riku, don't do that, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Sora said, a little irritably, in a hushed voice, stabilizing himself on the tree like he'd learned to do years ago.

The slightly older boy shrugged his relatively muscular shoulders and looked at Sora curiously. "Well, what are you doing out here so late?" He smirked. "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Ha, ha," Sora replied sarcastically, casting his eyes around the dark street. "I'm not tired, and I'm really, really bored."

"What does that have to do with me?"

The brown-haired teen grinned. "Want to go see if we can get through the door?"

Riku seemed to contemplate this for only seconds before nodded and climbing out of his window, quite a bit like his friend had. Sora grinned and slid down the trunk of the palm, landing beside Riku, still grinning. "We should probably be quiet."

"Should we tell Kairi?" Riku whispered, but they both knew the answer. Kairi was better off here, where she wanted to be. Besides, they only wanted to see whether or not they could get through the door.

-

Half an hour later, after racing both on land and overseas, the two of them were standing in front of the mysterious door Sora had been puzzled by what seemed like so very long ago, barely out of breath. They glanced at each other sideways before reaching forward and grabbing the handle in unison.

"One," Sora began.

"Two," Riku continued.

"Three!" They said together, and pulled open the door. What happened next was not what they expected.

It started with Sora, closer to where the door had first opened, not where the hinges supposedly were. The sensation he was feeling now reminded him greatly of when he had fought Darkside over a year ago, defeated him, but was then sucked through a dark portal and ended up in Traverse Town. And he felt like it was happening again.

"Riku!" was the last thing he remembered calling before disappearing into the endless depths of beyond the door, and caught glimpses of Riku also being pulled in. He heard the heavy _thunk_ that was the door closing tight behind them, and knew at once there was no turning back…just like last time. He couldn't see anything around him, because the sharp, cold wind was biting into any exposed skin, including his eyes. He wondered vaguely why it was so cold before he blacked out.

--

**Author's Note: **Hiya, people, hope you enjoyed the first chapter of_ New Journeys, New Worries_! Well, that is, if you read it, but of course I have no clue why you'd be reading this if you hadn't read the above stuff, but oh well. Sorry about this chapter being kind of short, but we'll see where it goes. If you've heard about or read my other three chapter fanfiction, Kingdom Hearts: The Untold Shard, you'll see it's unfinished. If, of course, is has any life left when you see this. I'm letting it die because I'm rewriting it, and won't post it up until I've got a bunch of chapters written up, unless people start clamoring for it, which I somehow doubt. Anyways, I'll stop rambling and let you get on with your life. Watch out for chapter two!


	2. Into A New Land

Disclaimer: Again, I do not own Kingdom Hearts, though I desperately wish I did

**Disclaimer:** Again, I do not own Kingdom Hearts, though I desperately wish I did.

--

Maybe it was the cold. Maybe it was the biting wind. Or maybe it was whatever was desperately yelling his name. Whatever the cause, Sora suddenly woke up and immediately shoved himself back a few feet from whatever was standing in front of him, fear flitting through his mind.

"Sora, you idiot!" the figure exclaimed, looking around them and checking for danger. They wouldn't come out here…though he wasn't about to put it past them.

"R-Riku?" Sora asked uncertainly, struggling to his feet. His arms, legs, and face were already very cold, and he could feel small ice crystals beginning to form in his moderately spiky hair.

"Who else?" Riku asked with some amusement in his voice, though it took on a more worried tone as he asked, "Do you know where we are?"

"Not on Destiny Islands, that's for sure," Sora sighed, also looking around. "I don't think I've ever been to a snowy place before." Although, that didn't sound right to him…

Riku bit his lip, but immediately stopped, seeing as how the blizzard would take advantage of an open wound, no matter how small. "Damn…how the hell did we end up here?"

"And all we wanted to do was look through the door," the fifteen-year-old muttered to himself irritably. Why did stuff like this always have to happen to him and Riku? Well, at least Kairi was safe…

"I haven't got a clue…"

The other boy ran one hand through his hair and shivered slightly, trying not to show that he was kind of cold to Sora. "I wonder how we get back."

A horrible thought suddenly ran through Sora's mind: What if they couldn't get back? What if they were stuck in this seemingly endless snow land forever? Despite the situation, he didn't find himself yearning for Destiny Islands at all. Instead, now that his initial panic was beginning to die, it was being replaced with excitement and intrigue.

"As long as we have something happen somewhere along the way, I don't mind," he said before he could stop himself, then looked at Riku with apprehension, bracing himself for his friend's response. To his relief, the sixteen-year-old smiled wryly.

"You know, you may actually have a point there, for once in your life," he joked, randomly choosing a direction and starting to walk.

Sora quickly forced his way to Riku's side through the now-foot-deep snow, and the two started to walk in silence, occasionally redirecting their course to avoid falling over a cliff edge or smacking into a rock wall. After they had been walking for a while, Riku broke the silence – well, as silent as you could get with a blizzard swirling around you – by asking while pointing ahead, "What's up with that?"

At first, Sora thought he was talking about the narrow path ahead, but quickly realized that he was pointed at clear ground, where it was a sort of light brown color, and devoid of snow. "I…"

He was about to continue, 'don't have a clue', but the words got caught in his throat as he began to run forward. He noted that Riku didn't call after him, but instead followed, curious he was sure, and wondering why he was rushing.

As soon as both his feet had left the snow and landed on the dirt ground, Sora turned and grinned at Riku, who also left the snow and started to shake the snow off his pants by stamping hard on the ground. The silvery-haired teen obviously noticed his grin, because he gave Sora and odd look as if to ask, "What?"

"I've been here before, Riku, I just realized! I'd forgotten how snowy it could be!" Sora replied excitedly, looking around as if to confirm this. "It's the Land of Dragons! It can't be Christmas Town, it'd be much more cheerful, I'm sure, and there are no blizzards there. Besides, I recognize a lot of this! If we keep following this path, we'll come to where a town…well, used to be."

Riku looked mildly impressed. "Let's hope that the emperor owes you a favor or something so we can see if we can find something to get us off of this world," he joked, starting to run down the path.

Sora couldn't help but let a faint smirk appear on his face as he followed after his friend. "Actually, he kind of does, as does Mulan I think. I think that Mushu should too, personally."

Riku looked back at him with an odd expression, then shook his head and looked forward again. Suddenly, he stopped and whipped his arm to the side, making Sora run into it at chest level, making him fall back onto the ground, winded.

"Hey, what--" Sora began, coughing slightly, but stopped and immediately stood up as he saw that they were surrounded by Heartless. They were the next level up from what he was pretty sure was the weakest and most common type, the ones that got really annoying because they could make themselves go as flat as paper and still move around, though you couldn't hit them and they couldn't harm you. The Keyblade appeared in his hand as he swiftly summoned it, with the Kingdom Key attached. King Mickey had insisted he take the other chains back to Disney Castle for safekeeping, but the Kingdom Key always stayed with Sora.

"Ready to fight?" Riku asked in a low mutter as he made his own Keyblade appear in his hand. It almost seemed like a dark purple and black wing, and strange as it was, it seemed eager to fight.

"When am I not?" Sora replied as he leapt forward and swiftly began to deal a string of attacks at a few different Heartless, barely hearing the Keyblade hitting their weak armor. He noticed Riku doing the same out of the corner of his eye, and began to wonder why his Keyblade still took that shape.

It wasn't a particularly difficult battle, aided by Riku's Dark Shield, which he still retained for some reason even though he'd come from the darkness and into the light, and Sora's own Explosion. At least they hadn't really forgotten any of their abilities. However, it took longer than it normally would have, since neither had fought for almost three weeks, and had instead been lounging in the bright sun, swimming, and racing.

"Glad to know that they aren't giving up on us," Sora remarked sarcastically and bitterly, watching a heart from the last Heartless float up and disappear into the sky. "I wonder where they go now."

"Let's just hope not to another Kingdom Hearts," Riku replied, letting his Keyblade disappear and resuming the run, though he set off at a slower pace and was barely faster than jogging. Sora quickly caught up, and they continued along the path in silence, on the lookout for more Heartless.

They fought at least three more groups of the same Heartless, including one very annoying one that looked a little like a centaur with a long spear-type weapon, and by the time the ruins of the small town were in sight, the two were relatively tired and injured. After all, it had been the middle of the night when they'd been jerked from Destiny Islands, though obviously other worlds didn't share the same time zone their own did.

"I hope we get to the city soon," Sora started to comment to Riku, but suddenly stopped as he stared ahead in fear.

"What is it?" Riku asked, following his friend's gaze to a young black-haired woman lying on the ground, dressed in armor, though you could see green clothing beneath. There were tears in her clothing, and red was staining her tunic and pants. Sora was already running towards her, and the sixteen-year-old wasted no time in hurrying after him.

--

**Author's Note:** A little longer than the last one, I think, so that's good. I'm tired, so I'll try writing up another chapter tomorrow. Yay for this being my lamest and shortest author's note ever.


	3. Foes and Fights

Disclaimer: Like always, I do not own Kingdom Hearts

**Disclaimer:** Like always, I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Holy crap, I wish I did.

--

There was the tiniest groan from Mulan as Sora skid to a halt near her and fell onto his hands and knees on purpose, looking at her in concern. "Mulan, what happened? Are you okay? Where's the Captain?"

"Don't drown her with questions, Sora, otherwise she'll die," Riku scolded, also bending down near her. Carefully, he placed one arm behind her neck to support her head, the other on the backs of her knees, and gently picked her up, trying his best not to hurt her any worse.

Sora nodded grimly and stood up alongside Riku. "Follow the path and you'll eventually end up at the city. I'll run ahead, kill any Heartless I find, and try and get help, and see what's up," he told his friend and, without waiting for a response, sped off down the path he had instructed Riku to take while carrying Mulan.

Riku shook his head slightly and sighed quietly. Sora was a little too…hyper sometimes. Sometimes he could be serious, but at other times, he was just plain odd. Shaking these unrelated thoughts out of his head, the silvery-haired teen pressed onward, at a slower pace than Sora so he hopefully didn't hurt Mulan more than she'd already been.

True to his word, the first group of Heartless Sora came across was completely obliterated at the mercy of the Keyblade, and they were only Armoured Heartless, after all (Sora had begun to nickname them for some odd reason; he wasn't even that aware he was doing it), and he'd only met up with them about thirty seconds after leaving Riku and Mulan behind. After this quick battle, though the effort was starting to take its toll, as were the wounds, Sora raced onwards, only to find a second group not two minutes later. This time, there were a bunch of Armoured Heartless, but they were scattered around two Spear Centaurs.

Resisting the urge to gnash his teeth in frustration, Sora loosed a yell, stunning the few Armoured closest to him, and immediately began to hack his way through the group, occasionally being forced to duck under the spears from the strange-looking Centaurs, and once even having to jump on one's back to reach an Armoured that had jumped into the air.

Finally, the first round of Heartless were dealt with, but he had more problems to take care of. The two Spear Centaurs seemed to be getting frustrated with the fact that they couldn't hit him, and so were beginning to charge at him, spears lowered and pointed right at him. Attempting to shake off his weariness, Sora rolled underneath on of the spears and began to slash at the right Centaur's chest, making it wince in pain and recoil slightly.

Unfortunately, Sora had gotten so wrapped up in attacking one, and he'd forgotten he didn't have Donald, Goofy, or Riku there to help him, that he didn't notice until it was too late the other one racing towards him. He turned his shoulders by accident, otherwise the point of the spear probably would have missed him - though just barely - but instead it caught him in the left shoulder and threw him back.

Sora could feel warm blood coming from the wound, though strangely enough, it never stained his clothes. He figured this must have been part of the magic those three fairies had put into them. But, he didn't have time to dwell on that now; both Centaurs were headed for him again, one looking angrier than the other. With the help of Scan, Sora could see that one had less HP than the other, and so went for that one first. He dodged the spear by darting quickly to the side, but couldn't avoid it clipping his shoulder, adding another cut right next to the previous one of the same shoulder. Clenching his teeth in anger, Sora leapt forward with little disregard for his own safety and whirled the Keyblade straight towards the more badly hurt Centaur. It wasn't quick enough to dodge the blade rushing towards it, and the fifteen-year-old could almost hear it screaming as the Keyblade whirled right through it, destroying it.

He had no time to dwell on the larger-than-most-others heart that was floating up into the sky, however, because now the other Centaur was all alone, and it knew it. However, it was less hurt than Sora was, and it was larger and had a long spear. It was aware of this fact as well, unfortunately, and it started racing across the ground straight at Sora for what felt like the millionth time to the Keyblade Master, and he groaned and dove out of the way just in time. He swiftly leapt to his feet - though the dive had forced him to land on his left shoulder, which was now throbbing painfully - and began to attack the centaur's right side, which was faced towards him. It was only good reflexes and quick footwork that allowed Sora to vault himself over the Heartless' back just as it was spinning its spear in front of it and turning towards him.

This was not to say he had pulled it off without injury, however. The spinning spear had grazed him on the side of his face, and so he now had an annoying cut on his right cheek to add to his pain. Though, there was one good thing about the wounds he had: He was convinced they wouldn't come back before Riku and Mulan were safely through here…and so it was his job to destroy them, like he'd promised. And the pain was giving him temporary strength, though he knew from experience it wouldn't last long.

He began to attack the Centaur once more with the Keyblade, and began to wish he had Oblivion or Oathkeeper, or even Star Seeker to help him with this battle. Their first stop, if they could find it, would have to be Disney Castle. He'd eventually begin to drag Riku down if he didn't get any of his old Keychains back, or even a new one would be helpful.

The Centaur kicking him in the stomach with one of its back legs and winding him brought Sora back to his senses, and out of his reverie. Luckily, the Centaurs were slow with turning, and Sora was able to regain enough of his breath to repeat the vaulting over the Heartless' back trick. He had a feeling if he did that once more, his shoulder would give way and he'd either land on the ground or the Centaur's back, which wouldn't be fun. Man, he really wished Goofy was here, or Donald, or even both…he could always count on them for help and, if not, for either Valor or Master Form. He disliked using Wisdom, and he wasn't quite sure why.

As the spear narrowly missed whacking him in the side of the head, Sora scolded himself for not paying for attention, and stop wishing for things that probably wouldn't happen. He attacked the attacker's side a few more times before darting back, watching his enemy warily. The Centaur was at low HP and was quite hurt, but Sora knew he was about the same. Lucky it was his left side instead of his right...otherwise he'd be near useless.

And, he still couldn't use Cura! Damn...he'd used it on both himself and Riku just before finding Mulan, and it would finish regenerating soon...but maybe not soon enough.

He waited for the Centaur to begin to rush him again, and he didn't have to wait long. But, it was beginning to learn. Instead of its spear being outstretched, it was spinning it in front of itself instead, making things more complicated for Sora. But the brown-haired teen wasn't completely stupid. He turned and started to run away from the charging Heartless, making sure to keep it within hearing range. He heard the thundering of it running begin to slow, and took this opportunity to turn and leap right over the lowered spear, for the Centaur couldn't keep spinning it forever, and shot a well-aimed Blizzara right at its head, finally killing it. His magic had finally regenerated.

Sora landed on the ground and watched the crystal-like heart floating idly into the sky, and began to wonder once more where they went. Shaking his head, he raised the Keyblade above him and said softly, "Cura."

Green clover-shaped lights began to softly swirl around him, and Sora felt quite a bit better. The second and third wounds he had received had closed up entirely, but the first, and the deepest, merely stopped bleeding. Sighing faintly and cursing himself for his lack of Potions, Sora began to move on along the path, determined to uphold his part and clear Riku's path to the Imperial City.

--

Author's Note: ...That wasn't much longer than the last chapter, if at all. Sorry, people, I seem to be in a sort of minor writer's block...or there just isn't that much to do. This chapter dragged on a bit, and I apologize, but I can't just say that he fought a bunch of Heartless as he went along and got injured, and that his magic always took its time regenerating, that's just not the way I am, and it would look lame. Don't worry, one'll probably reach the Imperial City next chapter (I haven't gone to that world for a while, I am terribly sorry if the name of the city isn't actually Imperial City, though I'm pretty sure it is), maybe even both. Until next time!


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